Arts, Briefly; 50 Cent on Charts Again

By BEN SISARIO; Compiled by Lawrence Van Gelder

Published: April 7, 2005

It's starting to look like Groundhog Day atop the Billboard album chart: 50 Cent's ''Massacre'' (Interscope) is No.1 yet again. The album has held the position for five weeks, though its sales have steadily declined; it sold 211,000 copies last week, bringing its total to 2.81 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The No.2 album was Beck's ''Guero'' (Geffen), which sold 162,000 copies in its first week of release, Beck's best sales week ever. Among other new releases, Beanie Sigel's ''B. Coming'' (Def Jam) opened at No.3, 112's ''Pleasure & Pain'' (Def Soul Classics) reached No.4 and Will Smith's ''Lost and Found'' (Interscope) was No.6. The 18th volume in the pop compilation series ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' was No.5. The chart this week also has an unusual debut: Larry the Cable Guy's ''Right to Bare Arms'' (Warner Brothers) opened at No.7, with 92,000 sales, the first comedy album to open in the Billboard Top10, the magazine said. BEN SISARIO